folk vs Martin
Martin coordinates your calendar, inbox, and calls; folk goes further with its own cloud computer and built-in real-world skills like restaurant booking and flight tracking. Free to start.
Martin is a proactive AI personal assistant you reach by phone, SMS, WhatsApp, email, Slack, or its own app - it manages your calendar and inbox, sets reminders, and can even text and call on your behalf. Folk works in your texts too, but adds its own cloud computer, built-in real-world skills like restaurant booking and flight tracking, a deeper memory graph, and the option to bring your own keys.
why people switch from Martin to folk
folk has its own computer
Martin coordinates your email, calendar, and communications. Folk does that and runs on its own cloud computer that browses the web and executes code, so it can handle multi-step tasks in a real environment, not just route messages.
real-world skills, built in
Folk ships with Resy booking and flight-price tracking as first-class skills that run autonomously and on a schedule. Martin can search the web and call to book, but folk's monitoring and booking happen on their own in the background.
bring your own models and keys
Folk lets you run your own Anthropic, OpenAI, or OpenRouter keys, kept inside your private sandbox, so you control the models and the spend. Martin does not offer this.
native in the apps you already text in
Folk lives inside iMessage, Telegram, and WhatsApp. Martin reaches you across SMS, WhatsApp, phone, email, and Slack plus its own app and dashboard; folk keeps everything in the chat you already use.
feature comparison
| Feature | Folk | Martin |
|---|---|---|
| Lives in iMessage | Yes | No |
| Lives in Telegram | Yes | No |
| Its own cloud computer | Yes | No |
| Persistent memory | Yes | Yes |
| Books tables (Resy) | Yes | No |
| Watches flights | Yes | No |
| Runs scheduled tasks | Yes | Yes |
| Connects to all your apps | Yes | Yes |
| Bring your own API keys | Yes | No |
| Web browsing | Yes | Yes |
| Code generation | Yes | No |
| Data privacy (no training) | Yes | No |
pricing comparison
Folk Pro
$20/mo
- Generous monthly usage for messages and tasks
- iMessage + Telegram
- Persistent memory
- Its own computer with web browsing and code
- Connects to all your apps
Folk Max
$100/mo
- Everything in Pro
- The best AI models available
- Zero queue, priority access
- 2x daily capacity
- First access to new features
frequently asked
What is Martin?
Martin (trymartin.com) is a proactive AI personal assistant marketed as a Jarvis for busy professionals. You reach it by phone, SMS, WhatsApp, email, or Slack, plus an iOS and web app. It manages your calendar, inbox, reminders, to-dos, and notes, can text and call on your behalf, and sends daily briefings.
How is Folk different from Martin?
Both are proactive and multichannel. Folk adds its own cloud computer that browses the web and runs code, built-in real-world skills like Resy booking and flight-price tracking, a memory graph that grows over time, and bring-your-own API keys, all living natively in iMessage, Telegram, and WhatsApp.
How does pricing compare?
Martin's paid plans generally run from about $21 to $49 per month depending on tier and billing. Folk is Pro ($20/month) and Max ($100/month), flat.
Can I switch from Martin to Folk?
Yes. Sign up at folk.com, subscribe, and you will get an iMessage number and a Telegram bot. Folk starts learning your preferences from your first conversation.
people also compare
learn the concepts
Personal AI
A personal AI is an artificial-intelligence assistant dedicated to one person - it learns your preferences, remembers your context, and takes actions on your behalf across everyday life.
AI Agent
An AI agent is an AI system that takes actions to accomplish a goal - using tools, browsing the web, and completing multi-step tasks autonomously, not just generating text.
Agentic AI
Agentic AI refers to AI systems that act with autonomy - setting sub-goals, using tools, and taking multi-step actions to complete tasks, rather than only responding to prompts.
what folk actually does
an ai that codes from your phone
Text folk what to build. It writes the code on its own computer and opens the pull request - from iMessage, Telegram, or wherever you are.
an ai that finds your restaurant and gets you the table
Text the city, the night, and the vibe. Folk finds the spot worth going to and hands you the booking.
an ai that tracks flight prices and watches your trips
Tell folk the route and budget. It monitors fares around the clock and pings you on a drop.
ready to try folk?
Free to start - free forever. Pro is $20/mo. Cancel anytime.
See everything folk can do - explore use cases.